Therapist faces trial on groping charges

WEST CHESTER – Opening statements are expected to be delivered Tuesday in Common Pleas Court here for the case of a Chadds Ford-area massage therapist accused of groping six female patients during treatment in his office.

William Eric Webb was arrested in October 2012 and charged with four counts of aggravated indecent assault, a felony, and six counts of indecent assault, a misdemeanor. The women who spoke with a state police investigator said they had each been molested physically by Webb during their appointments for myofascial release massage treatment at his office on Kennett Pike in Pennsbury in 2011 and 2012.

Myofascial release therapy is the manipulation of soft tissue to combat chronic pain. It is said to be less painful and more successful than other types of massage therapy. Webb, 43, of Pennsbury, has been offering that form of treatment as well as other forms of therapy in Texas and Pennsylvania since his graduation from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993.

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The aggravated indecent assault charges are punishable by a maximum of five to 10 years in state prison, while the indecent assault charges carry a possible sentence of one to two years in state prison, unless the jury finds that it was a course of conduct, in which case the penalty would be increased.

Webb, through his attorney, Robert J. Donatoni of West Chester, has fought the charges since his arrest, and continues to contest them.

“Mr. Webb will maintain that he did not sexually assault any of these women at any time,” Donatoni said on Monday, although he declined to detail what his defense to the charges will be.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant District Attorney Max O’Keefe. Judge David Bortner is presiding over the trial, which is expected to run through the week.

The accusations against Webb came to light in July 2012, when Trooper Todd Hershey of the Avondale state police barracks, interviewed a then-27-year-old woman who had been one of Webb’s clients at Advanced MFR in Pennsbury. She said she had sought treatment from Webb in hopes he could help her with chronic knee pain.

According to the arrest affidavit, the woman told Hershey that during a therapy session on June 5, 2012, Webb put his hands inside her underwear and fondled her. The woman also told Hershey of a second woman who claimed that Webb had assaulted her in the same manner during a therapy session. He interviewed that woman on July 20, 2012 and the then-28-year-old woman said that during a session in the spring of 2011, Webb had touched her breasts and put his hands inside her underwear, fondling her, without her permission.

Hershey said he was later able to speak with four other women about what had occurred to them during treatment by Webb. Some described mere touching, while others accused the therapist of more serious fondling, all during 2011. The other complainants range in age from 48 to 60 years of age.

All of the women’s names were withheld from the affidavit, and they were identified only by their initials and dates or birth. The Daily Local News does not publish the names of complaining witnesses in cases involving sexual acts.

Webb has remained free on bail while awaiting trial. Since his arrest, he has temporarily surrendered his massage therapist license, but continues with other forms of therapy.